An incident on Sunday afternoon, April 7, in which an unidentified man began shouting anti-gay slurs at two men believed to be a gay couple with a child on board a Metro train as it left the Dupont Circle Station and which was witnessed by a lesbian couple who defended the gay male couple is being investigated by Metro transit police.
Mishka Espey, who witnessed the incident with their partner, Gianna Gronowski, told the Washington Blade they and their partner became fearful that the male passenger might have physically assaulted them, and the gay male couple, based on his loud yelling of anti-gay names andthe angry facial expressions he displayed.
According to Espey, he did not physically attack them or the gay couple and got off the train at the Judiciary Square station shortly after the gay couple got off the train a few stops earlier, possibly at Metro Center or Gallery Place.
Espey noted that their partner Gianna used Gianna’s phone to capture part of the incident on video, which Gianna posted on the social media site X, formerly known as Twitter, and which has been viewed over 5 million times, according to D.C.’s Channel 7 News, which has reported the incident.
Espey said someone from Metro police called Gronowski about the incident after police learned about it through the X posting.
“Just witnessed a small child get SCREAMED at by a man for having two dads,” Gronowski posted on X. “This man yelled that everyone on the train should ‘be sick’ that this ‘innocent child’ was being raised by two fa*gs – we yelled at him to get off the train, the family departed, and he followed them,” Gronowski states in their post.
Espey told the Blade that when they saw the man appearing to follow the gay couple as the couple left the train, Espey and Gronowski shouted at the man to divert his attention, with the hope that he would not assault the gay couple on the train platform.
“He was very angry and loud and aggressive toward this couple that was standing right in front of us,” Espey told the Blade. “And he got closer to them. They were horrified,” said Espey. “They got off the Metro and he seemed to be following them off the Metro. And at that point, me and my partner started yelling at him,” Espey recalls. “And he turned his attention to us and started yelling at us,” said Espey, who uses the pronoun ‘they.’
“He was getting off to follow them, and then when we started yelling at him, he stopped right in the middle of the Metro door and was yelling at us from the doorway and holding up the train because he was literally in the doorway,” Espey said. “He then got off the train and walked down the other end of the same car we were in and then got back on the train,” Espey continued.
At that point, Gronowski filmed the second part of their video from their phone that shows the man standing on the opposite side of the train car, Espey says. “And that’s him just glaring at us from the other side of the Metro,” as seen in the video. “And at that point I was a little bit scared he was going to follow us all the way home” to the Silver Spring Metro station, which was their destination.
But instead, the man got off the train at the Judiciary Square station, Espey points out.
Metro Transit police had not responded to a request by the Blade for comment on the incident, including the question of whether the type of hostile name-calling without a physical assault engaged in by the unidentified man constitutes a crime — including a hate crime designation — that would merit an arrest and prosecution.
Channel 7 News reports that Metro Transit Police told Channel 7 it is “investigating the alleged incident.”
Anyone who witnessed the incident onboard the train or who may have seen the video image of the man who engaged in the name-calling from the X posting and who may be able to identify him can contact Metro Transit Police at 202-962-2121.
Under D.C. law, name-calling by itself is neither a crime nor a hate crime “regardless of how offensive it may be,” according to a statement on the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department website. The MPD statement says a hate crime is also not a crime by itself but instead is a motive for an underlying crime such as assault, murder, or vandalism.
The Office of the United States Attorney for D.C., which prosecutes D.C. crimes, says in a statement that an underlying crime could be an “assault or a threat,” but the statement does not specify exactly how a threat is defined.
Espey told the Blade that they and their partner Gianna felt threatened by the man on the Metro and they believe the gay male couple also felt threatened.
Espey said they and partner Gianna boarded the Metro at the Dupont Circle station after they walked from nearby Stead Park, where they played kickball as part of the LGBTQ Stonewall Kickball League.
The X posting by Gianna Gronowski can be viewed here:
Just witnessed a small child get SCREAMED at by a man for having two dads. This man yelled that everyone on the train should “be sick” that this “innocent child” was being raised by f@gs — we yelled at him to get off the train; the family departed and he followed them (1/2) pic.twitter.com/tqv7UZoaE6
— Gianna Gronowski (they/she) (@gmgronowski) April 7, 2024
